Christ in Everyone

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me…

The Lorica of Saint Patrick (St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer)

Long before I began seriously looking at this famous prayer, these lines stood out to me as among the most challenging. Christ is present everywhere and in everything, but now we pray to see Christ in every one. There are always great spiritual role-models in whom we clearly see the presence of Christ, but this prayer does not discriminate. It does not ask that we see Christ only in spiritual giants. It doesn’t ask us to see Christ only in Christians. It doesn’t even ask us to see Christ in only “good people”.

For me, these lines feel more like questions than declarations. Lord, can I really see you in everyone? Let us consider together some of the people in whom we might be asked to seek the presence of Christ.

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me?

• What about those who think negatively of me?

• What about those who only think of ways to do me harm?

• What about those who think very little of me, dismissing me as though I do not matter?

• What about those who think only of how to use me or take advantage of me?

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me?

• What about those who speak poorly of me, who spread gossip and slander my name?

• What about those who speak lies about me?

• What about those who speak behind my back?

• What about those who speak to me in hurtful or manipulative ways?

Christ in the every eye that sees me?

• What about those who only see me from a distance but would never recognize me?

• What about those who only see what they want to see, but are unwilling to see the “real me”?

• What about those who only see the worst in me?

• What about those who see too much and who know me more than I want to be known?

Christ in every ear that hears me?

• What about those who hear only what they want to hear?

• What about those who misinterpret what they hear?

• What about those who hear, but have no interest in actually listening?

• What about those who only hear what others say about me but don’t really hear me?

We could go on but I think the point is clear. There are just some people, whether we call them strangers or enemies or something in between, who do not seem to reflect the light of Christ in their lives. Can we really see Christ in these people?

I don’t know if we can see Christ in everyone or not. For some, it will certainly be harder than others. Yet if everyone is truly created in the image of God, then don’t we at least owe it to them and to ourselves to keep looking until we find even a spark of God’s love which might be kindled by the power and grace of the Holy Spirit?

Reflections:

1. Who are the people in whom I can clearly see the face of Christ and why?

2. Who are the people in whom I struggle to see even a glimpse of Christ’s presence and why?

3. What will I do this week to intentionally look for Christ in someone’s life where God’s loving presence appears entirely absent?

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Our journey through St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer concludes next week:

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity
Through belief in the Threeness
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation. Amen.

I Arise Today

A 40 Day Devotional Journey Through St. Patrick’s Breastplate Prayer. Now available in Kindle and Paperback at Amazon.com

Pray along with the full text of St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise

Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise…

The Lorica of Saint Patrick (St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer)

Much of this prayer begins with the refrain, “I arise today.” It is an active prayer, seeking God’s presence in every part of our day, no matter where we go and what we may experience. It is vital that when we arise, we arise with God. But there is more to life than “arising.” As some have said, there are times when our “get up and go,” simply “got up and went.” We have nothing left. We just have to stop.

Most of the time in our culture this “stopping” comes in the form of crashing or burnout. Yellow lights mean speed up and red lights mean slam on your breaks, but there is no such thing as slowing down. And yet we acknowledge today that we not only arise with Christ, but we also sit down and even lie down with Christ. Turns out that resting or even napping may not be a “sin” after all.

When reflecting on the poetic structure of Genesis 1, we find that on each day of creation, there was “evening and there was morning,” and it was good. Perhaps the writer of St. Patrick’s Prayer understood this pattern inherent within creation… evening and then morning, rest and then work, lying down, sitting up, and then arising to the day that God has already prepared for us.

Consider the implications of such a reversal. Rather than jumping out of bed to the obnoxious sounds of an “alarm” that sends our brains into immediate alert or crisis mode, we are invited to sit up slowly and breathe in the mercies of God which are new every morning. The day is not dependent on our urgency to begin. The day began in the evening as we went to bed and God has handled it quite well all night long without our help. Rather than working all day until we crash and fall into bed at night, we are invited to begin our day lying down and resting so that we might enter our work refreshed and renewed. When evening comes, we are not simply trying to unwind from the day or squeeze in a few more hours of toil. Rather, a new day has already begun and we are invited spend the first third of this new day sitting and lying down to rest deeply in the peace of Christ.

This is not a call to be lazy. Work is as much a gift as rest. But work is not the driving force of our life. What we do when we arise does not define us. Who we are when we arise should be the same as who we are when we sit down and when we lie down. Christ is every bit as present in our rest as in our activity.

This is the meaning of Sabbath. The Sabbath is not something else we must fit into our schedule to please God. It is a gift from God so that we might remember who we are. Rest is God’s way of remind us that we do not have to be in control 24/7. The world does not spin on our axis. While God invites us to participate in the work of caring for creation and restoring God’s Kingdom on earth, that work depends far more on Christ with us than on what we “do for Christ.”

It is easy to get fidgety and uncomfortable when we sit down or when we lie down. We feel restless, especially if circumstances such as poor health or an accident prevents us from rising up and being active. Healthy or not, able or not, God invites us to rest first and then work. Evening and then morning.

Lie down in Christ.

Sit up in Christ.

Then arise in Christ, and welcome the day God has already made for you.

Reflections:

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being mostly refreshed and 1 being anxious and weary, how do you feel when you arise on the average morning? What factors might contribute to your answer?

2. In what ways might your experience of God throughout the day be different if you thought of the day beginning in the evening?

3. How important is the Sabbath in your life? Do you practice regular rhythms of rest and work? How hard is it for you to slow down? Why?

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Our journey through St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer continues next week:

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me…

Pray along with the full text of St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer

Christ on my Right, Christ on my Left...

Christ on my right,
Christ on my left…

The Lorica of Saint Patrick (St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer)

You must therefore be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left. You must follow exactly the path that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you are to possess.

Deuteronomy 5:32-33 (NRSV)

Let your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
Keep straight the path of your feet,
and all your ways will be sure.
Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.

Proverbs 4:25-27 (NRSV)

As we can see in these verses, the Bible is clear. Christ is not on our right or our left… only straight ahead. To turn to the right or left is to stray into evil. So why would the writer of this prayer acknowledge the presence of Christ on both his right and left?

Perhaps the writer of this prayer is drawing more on the tradition of Job who says,

“If I go forward, he is not there;
or backward, I cannot perceive him;
on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him;
I turn to the right, but I cannot see him.
But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.

Job 23:8-10

This passage seems to recognize that God is present with Job, before him, behind him and on his left and right, only no matter where God may be at work, Job cannot see it.

Similarly, when Abraham separates from Lot in Genesis 13:9, Abraham gives Lot the choice whether to go right or left. For Abraham, it doesn’t seem to matter which direction he goes. He knows God will go before him and he trusts God to protect his nephew as well. God’s presence is not limited to one direction or another.

Finally we come to Mark 10:35-38 where a few of the disciples ask Jesus to sit on his right and his left in glory. Jesus says they do not understand what they are asking and makes it clear he is in no position to make such a promise. We also know that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, but what we don’t often consider is the implication that the Father sits at the “left hand” of Christ. If God the Father is on the left, the left can’t be all bad.

The tradition of left and right throughout the ancient world is often divided into spiritual vs. carnal or worldly realities. In Latin, the original word for left meant “sinister.” Many cultures have associated the left with “evil.” Perhaps this comes from the fact that between 70 and 95% of the world’s population is right handed, leaving some throughout history to assume something is wrong with the anomalous few. Even as late as the 1950’s and early 60’s, my father was taught that being “left handed” was wrong and he quickly learned to become ambidextrous to prevent punishment from his Catholic school teachers.

Some Christians continue this distorted use of left and right in the political realm by declaring war against the so-called evils and godlessness of the “liberal left.” Indeed, Biblical language is filled with examples of the left being associated with evil and sin while the right is considered righteous, but this says far more about history and culture than about reality. God did not make the “left” inferior, whether left-handed, left-brained, or left in ideology and politics.

And then of course we have those few scriptures we saw earlier that focus on avoiding both the left and the right. This idea fits nicely into my own Wesleyan tradition of the Via Media, or Middle Way in which we emphasize both head AND heart, social justice AND personal piety, etc.

It amazes me how we build entire theological systems around such cultural stigmas such as the virtue or sinfulness of right and left. In the end, it seems that with God, AND is almost always a better word than OR.

Christ on the right AND Christ on the left.

What does that mean for you right now? We all know people who are more “left” and more “right” than us and we tend to consider our own position on the spectrum superior, even if unconsciously. Some are more logical (left-brained) and some are more creative (right-brained). Some are more liberal (left) and some are more conservative (right). But what if no matter where people find themselves on all of our human-conceived spectra of left and right, Christ is there… on our left, on our right, AND everywhere in between?

Reflections:

1. Where do you most see the issue of left vs. right show up in your life? Where do you see God on the spectrum and why?

2. What would it look like to see Christ on the “opposite side” from where you are standing?

3. If the way of God is indeed the “middle way,” then Christ meets us where we are at on the left and right and moves us all toward the center, toward each other, and toward our heavenly Father. How is Christ calling you toward someone else who may be coming from a very different position than you?

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Our journey through St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer continues next week:

Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise…

Pray along with the full text of St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer

Christ Beneath Me, Christ Above Me...

Christ beneath me,
Christ above me…

The Lorica of Saint Patrick (St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer)

Have you ever noticed where people look?

Some people seem to be staring off into space, always looking up as though lost in a daydream. Others we might characterize as downcast, often keeping their gaze toward the ground and only glancing up occasionally to speak or interact as needed.

One could make a strong argument that our instinct to look away, either up or down, rather than maintaining eye contact with one another, says a lot about our own insecurity and inability to be fully present and engaged in the moment. In general, I would agree. As a society we do need to be far more intentional about being fully present with one another.

From another angle, we could use scripture to argue which is better, to look up or down. Colossians 3:2 says to set our minds on things above and not on the things of earth, while on the other hand, Psalm 119:105 tells us that the Word of God is a lamp unto our feet. So which is it. Do we look up to heaven, or do we focus on the path God lights up right in front of our feet? Some people spend so much time gazing up toward heaven, metaphorically speaking, that they end up making very little difference in the world around them. After all, they might argue, “The things of earth are passing away,” so why bother with them at all (1 John 2:17, 1 Corinthians 7:31). Others recognize God’s call to be good stewards of creation and to work for justice and mercy so that the Kingdom may be fulfilled “on earth as it is in heaven.” Yet we can just as easily become so embroiled in the despair and apparent hopelessness of the world that all of our efforts to make a difference feel like an exercise in futility. Without a heavenly perspective, the world may very well consume us.

What if it’s not so absolute? I’ll leave it to the psychologists to analyze all of the subconscious implications of looking up or down, but for now I would argue that no matter our natural inclinations, God invites us too look up AND down. Keeping an eye on heaven, we find the hope we need to proclaim the Good News on earth while keeping an eye on earth reminds us why such hope matters in the first place. Heaven is not an escape from the earth, it is the radical transformation and restoration of the earth and indeed of all creation.

If the Kingdom of God were a skyscraper, it would be built upside down. We look up to the eternity to lay solid foundations that will never crumble, but we build “upside down” as it were, so that the pinnacle of heaven’s towers reach all the way down to the earth so that God’s “penthouse suite” becomes readily accessible to all people. Like the New Jerusalem, God never shuts the gates (Revelation 21:25). The Kingdom is never out of reach, no matter how low we find ourselves in life.

Perhaps the most important thing we can take from all of this is that no matter which direction our gaze tends to fall, we will always be missing something if we only ever look in one direction. Christ above us… Christ beneath us… Christ before us… Christ behind us…

Always looking in one direction, whether up or down, will give you a kink in the neck. Maybe it’s time to stretch. Maybe Christ is saying to those who are downcast, “Hey, look, I’m UP here.” At the same time, Christ may be saying to those who are lost in the dream of heaven, “Hey, look, I’m DOWN here.”

Which way is God calling you to look right now? Whether above or beneath, Christ’s invitation is the same… “Come, follow me.”

Reflections:

1. Which direction do you find yourself looking more often, up or down? Why might that be?

2. Do you tend to see Christ more clearly when looking up toward heaven or when looking down at the path right in front of you? How?

3. Where do you most need to see Christ in your life right now? Beneath you, guiding your steps? Or above you, giving you hope for the journey?

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Our journey through St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer continues next week:

Christ on my right,
Christ on my left…

Pray along with the full text of St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer